The corruption and perversion of the Court system makes me want to vomit.
And so many wonder why so much of society thinks the idea justice is blind is a complete fallacy. Power, money, privilege, political influence, corruption, race, sex - those define the outcome in the justice system.
Like Trump learned from Roy Cohen - don’t tell me the law, tell me who the judge is. And it’s all playing for real right before our eyes with the most precious thing we have - our democracy. Corrupt judge in Florida and other judges not willing to deal with an overt threat.
Yeah - this one particularly rankles me. I mean her actions (and inactions) are right out there for all to see. I am one who believes one should not formulate too many opinions based on insufficient knowledge. And I know little about the judicial system. So ordinarily I might give Cannon the benefit of the doubt, even though it looks bad. But I have Joyce on my side. If Joyce smells a rat, I am going to jump on board with it. And she smells a rat.
The chickens are great and we need to all take a deep breath and carry on. Thanks, as always, for keeping us up to date. I used to love waiting for Supreme Court decisions and reading these decisions. Even if I disagreed with the decision, it wasn't because of justices unethical behavior. Nowadays, I'm more anxious because this Court is so biased and its legal logic can be severely convoluted.
I haven’t been able to feel that way since Citizens United. That decision was so far out of the issue in the case it was clear the Court was corrupt and had an illegitimate agenda, that of giving. Corporations more rights than citizens. It’s a disgusting institution now.
I have to admit I've been not only dismayed by Citizens United and Hobby Lobby but I'm a retired academic whose field is Federal tax law. In tax law, the one thing you don't want is the court "piercing the corporate veil", ignoring the corporate entity causing all tax consequences to accrue to the shareholders directly. This means that the owners are taxed directly and not the corporation. However, in Citizens United and Hobby Lobby the Supreme Court gave an individual right (1st Amendment) to a corporation and then ignored the separate corporate entity and recognized the owners religious views.
Piercing the corporate veil means that the court will ignore the separate corporate entity and look directly at the owners. A corporation is the only business entity in the US that is viewed as separate and distinct from its owners. All other business entities are "flow-through", everything flows through to the owners. The corporation is taxed on its income, not the owners. Owners receive dividends and are taxed at a preferential rate. If the corporation doesn't pay dividends, which it doesn't have to, the owners have no tax consequences. If you own stock in a corporation you do not have any legal liability for the debts of the corporation. The most you can lose is what you have invested in your stock. Corporations have officers that are separate from the owners, even in a small corporation when the owners are the officers or in large corporations when the officers own corporate stock, the officers have fiduciary responsibilities. There are certain criteria that a court will look at to determine whether or not the corporate form should be respected. If a majority of these criteria are not met, the court will pierce the veil and ignore the separate corporate entity. In a tax case, this means that all corporate tax benefits disappear and all income is taxed to the owners on the owners' tax return. My confusion is why the Supreme Court doesn't view corporations as separate and distinct from their owners (corporations are a creation of the law, not a person) when there is a long history of that separation in other areas of the law
Thank you so much for this explanation. When she first ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012, Elizabeth Warren noted that the Citizens United ruling pretty much said that "corporations are people too." She then pointed out all the ways that they aren't.
Thank you Ruth and Pickles for giving me a reason to smile. Thank you Joyce for telling us what;s likely coming from he Supreme Court. I hope the Chief Justice reins in a few of his more extremist MAGA jurists like Thomas, Alito and ilk. But I don't have much hope until 2025. If the Democrats don't pull off a landslide and gain control of the Government for at least two years we'll stay hamstrung. We really need to impeach at least Alito and Thomas and replace with real judges who know the Constitution, understand ethical behavior and rule based on law, not bribes.
Thanks Fay....well said. Real Judges and TRUTH would go a longggggg way to help our Country. I am so GD sick of all the lies and corruption...it is overwhelming and disgusting.🇺🇸-
After watching the insanity in the House today with the Fweedumbasses and their performative bullshit, with Marjorie Traitor Goon cutting Secretary of Defense Austin's salary to $1 for being "woke while black" and Lauren PlasticBoobs doing the same bit of performative horse shit with an Assistant SecDef who's trans, for being trans, I'd be very happy if all 137 traitors in Congress were rolled up in midnight arrests and never seen again, the damned traitors they are. They're getting to incandescently insane I wonder if we can survive another 15 months of their treason to the Constitution.
You hit on a very salient point here, buried amongst the most excellent, and deserved, insults. That is that it’s not just the “extreme” faction of the House GQP causing this (the current Democrats’ messaging). The other R’s could have already joined the D’s to bypass them and MqQarthy, but they’re actually quite content for Empty G to carry their cesspool water.
She said "bench-slap." OMG ROTFLMAO.... thank you so much for this Joyce.
Regarding "only restrictions on gun possession that were in effect when the country was founded can be enforced today," perhaps we should only have the 6 most senior justices on the current court, since there were only 6 justices when the court was founded? Or no SCOTUS, which did not exist when the country was founded? Originalist knuckle-draggers. Yes, I'd miss Justice Brown, but I wouldn't miss Kavanaugh or especially Coney Barrett.
If restrictions on gun possession that were in effect when the country was founded is the basis, then any firearm that is not a musket should be illegal.
Please don’t leave off Thomas... he is way out of line here. I am so disappointed in Justice Roberts, I used to like him so much... operative word “used” 😖
I was just going by “Last one hired, first one fired” to get us back to the “original” number of 6 justices, using those idiots’ illogic. There’s still hope for Thomas to do himself in.
It would be so much better for Roberts to do something ethical like give Thomas a talking to. Don’t know if that would be the protocol. It would be so much better as well for Thomas to step down. My sense is that the payoffs and promises to him are so deep and widely done, he can’t get away from his benefactors. My sense also is that Jack Smith and Company are looking at Ginny. She was all hell fire and brimstone (plus demanding!) on January 6. Where DOES one get that kind of access? I can’t even get anyone to help clean up after dinner. She’s getting looked at and if, if, if, (my opinion and ‘allegedly’ as we non-lawyers have to say), she is indicted, Clarence will be forced to step down. It’s the only path to get rid of that allegedly on the take Justice.
I am now adding Bench-Slap to my repertoire of great phrasing! I now need to figure out how to insert it into a classroom conversation. May in con law or Deviance?
Your comment made me laugh. I immediately thought of the newly appointed High Executioner in the opera The Mikado. Eager to practice his new trade, he makes “a little list” of people who would not be missed.
Joyce, thought I’d share this from Reed Galen’s Substack today. Re the GOP debate scheduled for Miami in November.
"The Miami debate was originally supposed to be held in perennial bellwether Alabama, but I suppose they thought calling it the “George Wallace Memorial Debate and Illegal Gerrymander Jamboree” was a little too on the nose."
Hi Joyce - Justice for Alabama is on my radar and it’s been a long time coming as is the situation in too many other states. Thank you so much for the chick px. Refreshing and reassuring that life can be wonderfully happy in one’s own back yard. Your newsletter sustains my belief that I too can move past the noise to victory in 2024. It surely must be so. The Maga base will not survive. It’s time for the grownups in Congress to speak. It’s now or never. Hear Hear 🔔🗽🇺🇸🗳️❤️
Thanks for the great overview of the upcoming Supreme Court cases to expect to hear more about
in the coming months. And, most especially, thanks for the pictures of Ruth and Pickles--it's the little things that make my day. They look so healthy and happy and so well-cared for!
I've been wondering - is there precedent for a party appearing before SCOTUS, say a state whose name begins with "A," declining to comply a second time and simply refusing to abide by the decision (that they've been there done that already) AND the results of the appeal if they don't like it? What if they take a peep at the Special Master's maps and say, no thanks, sorry for your trouble, not what we want and decline to implement them? What happens then?
Some of us remain in AL to change it...we moved back with a house full of D Voters...even our 10-year-olds get it (we are studying Alabama History at homeschool and they totally understand their assignment!). FYI, we also have kids in Cali and PA who are making sure they vote D. There is hope. The turnouts in Alabama for the libraries' kerfuffles are going well.
Tiggr, Deep apologies to you. Venting and did not mean to offend Alabama, you, or Joyce. And deep bow to you for making change. I am also in a red state, however, there is no hope of change here. They are not rip roaring Trumpers, and would go for someone like Steve Schmidt, should he run, but more entrenched than anywhere. Who knows. There are neutral with blue academe 'zones' and I live in one of those. Again, apologies.
They may choose Christie. It’s not over till it’s over, and plenty of Christians who followed Trump are truly sick of him. I haven’t spoken with anyone so I am conjuring/guessing that they are sick of him. But there is a segment that we kind of look away from who look at Trump as the messiah. What are those mud sink hole things that pull people/animals into them? A quagmire? That’s where Trump is heading. Sinking and can’t get out. He is flipping on abortion. Re Christi: there are decent Republican people who will not vote at all. And decent Republicans who want to vote but are sick to death of Trump and his minions. And indecent folks who, if they can’t vote for Trump, won’t vote. Republicans will have a lot of well deserved collateral damage. I guess that mud hole sinking him may be a sinkhole - Trump is in the quagmire.
Oh no. You are fine! I get it. We have a horrible rep but it seems that people are embracing the Alabamicfication of the US!
I can't leave either. My mom is old, the hubs is old and most of the kids are here. There are more of us like us than is known. But gerrymandering is killing us. Hopefully not for long!
I was enjoying TCinLA’s problem solving ability so I (helper personality) chimed in to drive the chickens in a U Haul or a pet friendly Subaru Outback…
The corruption and perversion of the Court system makes me want to vomit.
And so many wonder why so much of society thinks the idea justice is blind is a complete fallacy. Power, money, privilege, political influence, corruption, race, sex - those define the outcome in the justice system.
Like Trump learned from Roy Cohen - don’t tell me the law, tell me who the judge is. And it’s all playing for real right before our eyes with the most precious thing we have - our democracy. Corrupt judge in Florida and other judges not willing to deal with an overt threat.
It’s too much.
Yep, and now Aileen Cannon is Trump's judge.
I feel confident that Jack Smith will not be played by the likes of Aileen Loose Cannon
Me too. Seems like it’s happening now. Unfortunately
Yeah - this one particularly rankles me. I mean her actions (and inactions) are right out there for all to see. I am one who believes one should not formulate too many opinions based on insufficient knowledge. And I know little about the judicial system. So ordinarily I might give Cannon the benefit of the doubt, even though it looks bad. But I have Joyce on my side. If Joyce smells a rat, I am going to jump on board with it. And she smells a rat.
Not for freaking long I hope.
The chickens are great and we need to all take a deep breath and carry on. Thanks, as always, for keeping us up to date. I used to love waiting for Supreme Court decisions and reading these decisions. Even if I disagreed with the decision, it wasn't because of justices unethical behavior. Nowadays, I'm more anxious because this Court is so biased and its legal logic can be severely convoluted.
I haven’t been able to feel that way since Citizens United. That decision was so far out of the issue in the case it was clear the Court was corrupt and had an illegitimate agenda, that of giving. Corporations more rights than citizens. It’s a disgusting institution now.
I have to admit I've been not only dismayed by Citizens United and Hobby Lobby but I'm a retired academic whose field is Federal tax law. In tax law, the one thing you don't want is the court "piercing the corporate veil", ignoring the corporate entity causing all tax consequences to accrue to the shareholders directly. This means that the owners are taxed directly and not the corporation. However, in Citizens United and Hobby Lobby the Supreme Court gave an individual right (1st Amendment) to a corporation and then ignored the separate corporate entity and recognized the owners religious views.
I also really hate the Shelby County v Holder decision, which was the beginning of the end of voting rights for minorities in the South.
That’s a new issue for me. Can you elaborate? I don’t understand how “piercing the corporate veil” does that
Piercing the corporate veil means that the court will ignore the separate corporate entity and look directly at the owners. A corporation is the only business entity in the US that is viewed as separate and distinct from its owners. All other business entities are "flow-through", everything flows through to the owners. The corporation is taxed on its income, not the owners. Owners receive dividends and are taxed at a preferential rate. If the corporation doesn't pay dividends, which it doesn't have to, the owners have no tax consequences. If you own stock in a corporation you do not have any legal liability for the debts of the corporation. The most you can lose is what you have invested in your stock. Corporations have officers that are separate from the owners, even in a small corporation when the owners are the officers or in large corporations when the officers own corporate stock, the officers have fiduciary responsibilities. There are certain criteria that a court will look at to determine whether or not the corporate form should be respected. If a majority of these criteria are not met, the court will pierce the veil and ignore the separate corporate entity. In a tax case, this means that all corporate tax benefits disappear and all income is taxed to the owners on the owners' tax return. My confusion is why the Supreme Court doesn't view corporations as separate and distinct from their owners (corporations are a creation of the law, not a person) when there is a long history of that separation in other areas of the law
Thank you so much for this explanation. When she first ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012, Elizabeth Warren noted that the Citizens United ruling pretty much said that "corporations are people too." She then pointed out all the ways that they aren't.
Thank you Ruth and Pickles for giving me a reason to smile. Thank you Joyce for telling us what;s likely coming from he Supreme Court. I hope the Chief Justice reins in a few of his more extremist MAGA jurists like Thomas, Alito and ilk. But I don't have much hope until 2025. If the Democrats don't pull off a landslide and gain control of the Government for at least two years we'll stay hamstrung. We really need to impeach at least Alito and Thomas and replace with real judges who know the Constitution, understand ethical behavior and rule based on law, not bribes.
Thanks Fay....well said. Real Judges and TRUTH would go a longggggg way to help our Country. I am so GD sick of all the lies and corruption...it is overwhelming and disgusting.🇺🇸-
After watching the insanity in the House today with the Fweedumbasses and their performative bullshit, with Marjorie Traitor Goon cutting Secretary of Defense Austin's salary to $1 for being "woke while black" and Lauren PlasticBoobs doing the same bit of performative horse shit with an Assistant SecDef who's trans, for being trans, I'd be very happy if all 137 traitors in Congress were rolled up in midnight arrests and never seen again, the damned traitors they are. They're getting to incandescently insane I wonder if we can survive another 15 months of their treason to the Constitution.
You hit on a very salient point here, buried amongst the most excellent, and deserved, insults. That is that it’s not just the “extreme” faction of the House GQP causing this (the current Democrats’ messaging). The other R’s could have already joined the D’s to bypass them and MqQarthy, but they’re actually quite content for Empty G to carry their cesspool water.
Yeah, that's the truth. Dammit.
It scares me that I agree with you so much.
It scares me that I wrote it.
TCinLA, laughing till crying again. You are on a roll. I'm hoping for some indictments before the 15 months is up.
I'd rather go for some convictions.
Me too! Convictions for many ....
Agree.
All I have to say is, UGH....more chickens, less SCOTUS. Thanks as always Joyce, your dedication is beyond appreciated. ❤️❤️🐥🐓🐣
Can't SCOTUS simply deny hearing the AL appeal? Just leave it with the three-judge panel's decision, and let their oversight stand?
She said "bench-slap." OMG ROTFLMAO.... thank you so much for this Joyce.
Regarding "only restrictions on gun possession that were in effect when the country was founded can be enforced today," perhaps we should only have the 6 most senior justices on the current court, since there were only 6 justices when the court was founded? Or no SCOTUS, which did not exist when the country was founded? Originalist knuckle-draggers. Yes, I'd miss Justice Brown, but I wouldn't miss Kavanaugh or especially Coney Barrett.
If restrictions on gun possession that were in effect when the country was founded is the basis, then any firearm that is not a musket should be illegal.
Please don’t leave off Thomas... he is way out of line here. I am so disappointed in Justice Roberts, I used to like him so much... operative word “used” 😖
I was just going by “Last one hired, first one fired” to get us back to the “original” number of 6 justices, using those idiots’ illogic. There’s still hope for Thomas to do himself in.
Ginny will do him in. He won't see it coming and will be forced to resign.
It would be so much better for Roberts to do something ethical like give Thomas a talking to. Don’t know if that would be the protocol. It would be so much better as well for Thomas to step down. My sense is that the payoffs and promises to him are so deep and widely done, he can’t get away from his benefactors. My sense also is that Jack Smith and Company are looking at Ginny. She was all hell fire and brimstone (plus demanding!) on January 6. Where DOES one get that kind of access? I can’t even get anyone to help clean up after dinner. She’s getting looked at and if, if, if, (my opinion and ‘allegedly’ as we non-lawyers have to say), she is indicted, Clarence will be forced to step down. It’s the only path to get rid of that allegedly on the take Justice.
From your lips to all the gods’ ears!
I am now adding Bench-Slap to my repertoire of great phrasing! I now need to figure out how to insert it into a classroom conversation. May in con law or Deviance?
Maybe a haiku as a warm-up?
(5-7-5 with SCOTUS as 2 syllables. And with a huge dose of optimism here….
Haikus are easy
Alabama Bench Slap
From SCOTUS with love
As if.
Your comment made me laugh. I immediately thought of the newly appointed High Executioner in the opera The Mikado. Eager to practice his new trade, he makes “a little list” of people who would not be missed.
Joyce, thought I’d share this from Reed Galen’s Substack today. Re the GOP debate scheduled for Miami in November.
"The Miami debate was originally supposed to be held in perennial bellwether Alabama, but I suppose they thought calling it the “George Wallace Memorial Debate and Illegal Gerrymander Jamboree” was a little too on the nose."
Hi Joyce - Justice for Alabama is on my radar and it’s been a long time coming as is the situation in too many other states. Thank you so much for the chick px. Refreshing and reassuring that life can be wonderfully happy in one’s own back yard. Your newsletter sustains my belief that I too can move past the noise to victory in 2024. It surely must be so. The Maga base will not survive. It’s time for the grownups in Congress to speak. It’s now or never. Hear Hear 🔔🗽🇺🇸🗳️❤️
Love the chicken photo. Looks like a tasty dinner for them and a colorful presentation.
Needed the photo to offset all the worry and anxiety.
Please keep the chicken pics coming along with your excellent analyses.
Thanks for the new chick pics, Joyce! It takes the edge off the rest of your message regarding SCOTUS.
Peace and prayers for our country☮️🙏🏼☮️
Assuming the SC does rule in favor of a new map, what legal authority would force Alabama to comply?
Thanks Joyce, for explaining some of the finer legal points. It can feel overwhelming!
Thanks for the great overview of the upcoming Supreme Court cases to expect to hear more about
in the coming months. And, most especially, thanks for the pictures of Ruth and Pickles--it's the little things that make my day. They look so healthy and happy and so well-cared for!
I've been wondering - is there precedent for a party appearing before SCOTUS, say a state whose name begins with "A," declining to comply a second time and simply refusing to abide by the decision (that they've been there done that already) AND the results of the appeal if they don't like it? What if they take a peep at the Special Master's maps and say, no thanks, sorry for your trouble, not what we want and decline to implement them? What happens then?
Go Alabama.....💕😳
And I am so mad of the CFPB disappears..
Go Alabama as in Get The Hell Out Of This Country, you unreconstructed Confederate traitors.
OMG. LOL until I'm crying. Thank you TCinLA. But wait, wait: isn't our dear Joyce in Alabama? She gets to stay.
Some of us remain in AL to change it...we moved back with a house full of D Voters...even our 10-year-olds get it (we are studying Alabama History at homeschool and they totally understand their assignment!). FYI, we also have kids in Cali and PA who are making sure they vote D. There is hope. The turnouts in Alabama for the libraries' kerfuffles are going well.
Tiggr, Deep apologies to you. Venting and did not mean to offend Alabama, you, or Joyce. And deep bow to you for making change. I am also in a red state, however, there is no hope of change here. They are not rip roaring Trumpers, and would go for someone like Steve Schmidt, should he run, but more entrenched than anywhere. Who knows. There are neutral with blue academe 'zones' and I live in one of those. Again, apologies.
Why aren't they choosing Christie even...
They may choose Christie. It’s not over till it’s over, and plenty of Christians who followed Trump are truly sick of him. I haven’t spoken with anyone so I am conjuring/guessing that they are sick of him. But there is a segment that we kind of look away from who look at Trump as the messiah. What are those mud sink hole things that pull people/animals into them? A quagmire? That’s where Trump is heading. Sinking and can’t get out. He is flipping on abortion. Re Christi: there are decent Republican people who will not vote at all. And decent Republicans who want to vote but are sick to death of Trump and his minions. And indecent folks who, if they can’t vote for Trump, won’t vote. Republicans will have a lot of well deserved collateral damage. I guess that mud hole sinking him may be a sinkhole - Trump is in the quagmire.
Oh no. You are fine! I get it. We have a horrible rep but it seems that people are embracing the Alabamicfication of the US!
I can't leave either. My mom is old, the hubs is old and most of the kids are here. There are more of us like us than is known. But gerrymandering is killing us. Hopefully not for long!
TY for being so gracious Tiggr -
I was enjoying TCinLA’s problem solving ability so I (helper personality) chimed in to drive the chickens in a U Haul or a pet friendly Subaru Outback…
Thank you for your resilience Tiggr, that’s what I was thinking too when I wrote Go Alabama. There is hope totally. We can’t just leave 🌿
She can bring the chickens back to California, her "native land".
Ok. We can help with the U-Haul. It sounds harsh, but whatever. We're in this together.
I laughed out loud.
Thank you for putting a smile on my face - I can go to sleep smiling tonight. I'm still laughing, thank you. Good night:))
TCinLA, sorry, I'm still laughing.